


Coffee Shop Love

by Lasenby_Heathcote, watcherofworlds



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Background Steggy If You Squint, F/M, Sam Wilson Birthday Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 17:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12113865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lasenby_Heathcote/pseuds/Lasenby_Heathcote, https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: A relationship develops between Wanda Maximoff, a political science major, and Sam Wilson, a clinical psychology major, between chance encounters at their campus coffee shop.





	Coffee Shop Love

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sam Wilson Birthday Bang. Officially the longest one-shot I have ever written.

Wanda stood frozen, now wearing the lavender green tea that only moments ago she had been holding in her hand. If she was grateful for anything, it was that her phone and laptop were in her bag and out of the splash zone.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” The voice, warm and rich like melted chocolate, cut through Wanda’s shock. She was suddenly acutely aware of the people staring at her. She could feel her brain noise dialing itself up to eleven. She forced herself to speak. “You don’t need to do that. It’s okay, honestly.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the voice, which she now recognized as belonging to one of her classmates, though his name at that moment escaped her, replied. “It’s the least I can do.” He smiled at her in a carefully non-threatening manner, then approached the counter and struck up a conversation with the barista standing behind it, leaving Wanda standing there in her wet clothes.

A few minutes later, her classmate returned with a paper travel cup. Their fingers brushed, just for a moment, when he handed it to her, and she flinched at the unexpected contact.

“Do you want to change your clothes?” her classmate asked. “I can make your excuses to Professor Carlyle for you.” Wanda blinked.

“Carlyle?” she asked uncomprehendingly. Her classmate’s words made sense individually, but for some reason her brain couldn’t seem to string them together into a meaningful sentence.

“We have his Academic Writing class together?” her classmate said, in a tone that clearly implied he was trying to jog her memory.

“Oh, right,” Wanda said, remembering.

“It’s Wanda, right?” her classmate asked, heading for the door. Wanda nodded.

“And you’re…” she started to say, then trailed off because she still couldn’t remember his name.

“Sam,” he said.

“Right,” Wanda agreed, nodding to herself. “Sam.” She watched him disappear through the glass fronted doors of the coffee shop, then up the sidewalk until he was out of view. Then she too left the coffee shop and hopped onto the campus shuttle bus back to her dorm, not wanting to walk there in her damp and now most likely tea stained clothes. It wasn’t until she was seated and the bus was in motion that she finally took a cautious sip of the tea Sam had given her. A surprised smile spread across her face. She didn’t know how, but Sam had gotten her tea exactly how she liked it, though he had never asked and she had never told him. He must have been incredibly perceptive. She hopped off the bus feeling like the day had definitely taken a turn for the better, smiling in a way that she hadn’t for a quite a while.

**\---**

“We’ve really got to stop meeting like this,” Sam teased with a grin, sliding into the seat across from Wanda without bothering to ask if she wanted company. If Wanda was being honest with herself, she wouldn’t have turned him away if he _had_ asked.

“It’s not my fault that you’re in here nearly as often as I am,” she said in a detached but distinctly snarky tone, engrossed in the book she was reading. “If you’ve got no social life, that’s on you.”

“Here,” Sam said, placing a paper cup on the table next to her. “Figured you could use a refill.” He indicated the identical, but empty, cup on the other side of her to emphasize his point.  Wanda raised an eyebrow at him but accepted the cup with a muttered thanks and took a sip. It was perfect. Again.

“How do you do that?” she asked, unable to keep a note of astonished admiration out of her voice. “I’ve never told you what kind of drink I like or how I like it, but somehow you still manage to get it exactly right every time. How?” Sam shrugged.

“Guess I’m observant,” he said. “I try to pay as much attention to the people I interact with as possible. I figure it’s good practice for my future career.”

“Which is?” Wanda asked, closing her book, now fully invested in the conversation.

“Therapist,” Sam replied. “That’s what I’m majoring in, anyway- clinical psychology.”

“That’s interesting,” Wanda said. “What made you choose that major?”

“I want to help people,” Sam stated simply. “I want to be the person that lets them know that just because their issues are all in their head that doesn’t mean that they’re any less real.” He became more and more animated as he spoke, gesturing expansively with his hands as he talked, his face alight with enthusiasm. It was clear that this was a subject he was passionate about, and Wanda felt a spreading warmth in her chest that had nothing to do with the tea she was drinking.

“So what about you?” Sam asked, turning the conversation back to her, which she regretted. She could have listened to him talk all day, without ever offering so much as a word in return. “What’re you majoring in?”

“Political science,” Wanda replied. She hoped Sam wouldn’t ask her _why_ she had chosen that major, as she had done with him. It wasn’t something she liked to talk about, for fear that it would reopen old wounds, wounds that she would rather forget about. Thankfully, Sam seemed to pick up on this, because he didn’t pry any further. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and said, “That’s a good major. You can do a lot with it.” Wanda nodded but otherwise didn’t reply. They lapsed into silence. Sam finished his coffee and got up to get another.

“Wait,” Wanda said, leaping up from her chair and holding out an arm to stop him. “I’ll get it. It’s the least I can do, after all the tea you’ve bought me.”

“Alright,” Sam said, sitting back down, a small smile on his face. “Brewed coffee, with cream and three sugars. Please.”

“Got it,” Wanda said, and went to place the order, trying to ignore the pointed looks that Steve, who was working the counter, was casting between her and Sam.

“Stuff it Steve,” she snapped. “There’s nothing going on here.”

“Right,” Steve said skeptically. “You’re buying him coffee, but there’s nothing going on.”

“I’m just returning the favor for all the times he’s bought me tea,” Wanda protested irritably.

“Sure,” Steve said, drawing the word out so that his doubt was clear to anyone listening. Wanda rolled her eyes as she accepted the now completed coffee order from him and returned to her table.

“Everything okay?” Sam asked, glancing over at the counter where Steve was still watching them with that infuriating sarcastic smirk on his face.

“Everything’s fine,” Wanda assured him. “Steve was just giving me a hard time. He likes to do that.” She didn’t elaborate. She didn’t think she needed to. If Sam knew Steve- which she suspected he did, based on his knowing nod- he would know that giving his friends a hard time was one of his favorite forms of good natured teasing.

“Shit, I’ve gotta go,” Sam said suddenly, getting up from the table and gathering up his belongings, “but I’ll...see you later?” His tone was hopeful.

“I’m sure,” Wanda replied. Sam smiled.

“Great!” he said. “Thanks for the coffee, by the way. Bye!” He hefted his backpack and ran for the door.

“You’re welcome!” Wanda called after him. “Bye!”’

**\---**

 

Wanda leaned back against the wall outside the coffee shop and blew out a heavy sigh. After weeks of avoiding his gaze in class, of hanging around the places she knew he frequented in the hopes of running into him, she was forced to finally forced to accept the truth- she had a crush on Sam Wilson. With another sigh, she levered herself away from the wall and went inside. She was relieved to see that there wasn’t a line, although of course there wouldn’t be- the coffee shop’s busiest time was earlier in the morning, when the students stopping by before class weren’t fully awake yet.

“Hey Wanda,” Steve said when he spotted her.

“Hey,” Wanda replied in a distracted tone.

“The usual?” Steve asked, already reaching for a paper cup from the stacks beside him. Wanda nodded.

“I see Peggy’s been by,” she commented, deadpan, indicating Steve’s mussed up hair and the unbuttoned top button of his shirt. Steve looked down, following the gesture.

“Ah, _damn it_ Peg,” he said, fixing his shirt and frantically smoothing his hair back down, though his lovesick grin indicated that he wasn’t quite as upset with his girlfriend as his words would suggest. That done, he finished Wanda’s drink and handed it to her with his best customer service smile. She payed, then moved off to add sugar to it, as she always did. She glanced around quickly for Sam, hoping but also dreading that he’d come in while she’d been at the counter, preoccupied with talking to Steve. She didn’t see him, and was unable to stop a breath of relief from rushing out of her. She sat down in one of the chairs by window, pulled her book out of her bag, and tried to read, if only to give herself some kind of distraction from her worries regarding what exactly she was supposed to do about her newly discovered feelings for Sam.

“Hey,” an all too familiar voice said behind her sometime later, making her jump so badly that she almost fell out of her chair.

“Sam!” she cried, twisting around in her chair to face him, his name coming out as a startled yelp.

“Whoa, are you okay there?” Sam asked. “Here, let me help you up.” He took Wanda’s hand in his and pulled her gently to her feet. To her surprise, he didn’t let go of her hand once he had accomplished this. Out of the corner of her eye, Wanda saw Steve lean forward to watch them, his forearms braced on the counter in front of him, a wide smile on his face.

_What did you do, Rogers?_ she wondered.

“Look, Wanda,” Sam said, drawing her attention back to him. “We keep meeting by accident...do you think we could do it on purpose?” Wanda frowned, trying to process his words.

“Wait,” she said. “Are you...are you asking me out on a date?”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Sam replied, his smile thin and nervous.

“I’d love to,” Wanda said. “Just let me know when and where.”

“Really? Great!” Sam said. He sounded surprised, like he hadn’t been expecting her to actually agree to go on a date with him. It made her smile. Seemingly on an impulse, Sam leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, then raced for the door.

“Wait!” Wanda called after him. “Is that really all you came in here for?”

“Pretty much!” Sam called back, and then he was gone, leaving Wanda to shake her head in affectionate exasperation at his antics.

**\---**

“I’m glad you decided to take us somewhere off campus,” Wanda said, casting about for a topic of conversation, trying to dispel the tense, awkward silence that had fallen between her and Sam. It was only amplified by the quiet background chatter of the other people in the restaurant, and it was driving her crazy.

“Yeah,” Sam said. “I figured having Steve congratulating himself in background would kind of kill the mood. Sorry we had to take the bus to get here, though.”

“It’s fine,” Wanda said. She thought of the bus ride over, pressed shoulder to shoulder with Sam, their fingers intertwined, wreathed in his scent. “I’ve been on worse bus rides.”

“Well. that’s good to hear, I suppose,” Sam said with a nervous laugh. After a moment’s pause, he said, “I hope you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Oh yes, of course,” Wanda assured him. “Absolutely.”

“Good,” he replied. His voice was quiet, his expression thoughtful. Coming from anyone else, this scrutiny would have made Wanda uneasy, but with Sam it was simply a sign that he cared, and thus was comforting rather than uncomfortable.

“Thank you for this,” Wanda said sometime later, standing in the lobby of her residence hall, near the door, Sam by her side. “I had a really good time.”

“I’m glad,” Sam replied. There was a tone in his voice that Wanda couldn’t quite place. She turned away from him for a moment to get her student id out of her wallet so that she could open the door. When she turned back to Sam, he was suddenly a lot closer than he’d been a moment ago. She wanted to kiss him, thought about kissing him, but he beat her to it with a kiss so tender and loving that it made her feel weak. She gasped, her id falling from a slack grip with a clatter of plastic, but she hardly noticed, caught up as she was in the moment.

“Goodnight Wanda,” Sam said when he finally pulled away. His voice was soft and heavy with emotion.

“Goodnight,” Wanda managed to reply, the word heavy in her mouth. She watched Sam disappear out into the night and her heart felt light, lighter than it had ever felt before.

 


End file.
